You're Crashing, But You're No Wave
by Second Star On The Left
Summary: Song fic for TDK based on the song which shares its name with the title. Enjoy :


_The DA is dressed to the nines  
__In the mirror he practises all his lines  
__To his closing arguement, twelve hearts beat in favour  
__I'm guessing that he read the morning paper  
__The headline reads "The Man Hangs"  
__But a jury doesn't._

Harvey Dent adjust his tie as he awaits the call. The press conference was his idea - the whole thing was his idea. Harvey Dent knows how to play to the people, be they disillusioned citizens of a crime-ridden city, or mass-murdering psychopaths who had some sort of obsession with a masked vigilante.

He knows there is a chance that this could be dangerous. There was no way the Joker wasn't going to go all out in the hope that he'd catch his Bat. Harvey Dent knows that there's a chance that doing this could kill him. He also knows that there is a chance that the Batman would not let him die. So far, the Joker is winning against Batman, but there is still a chance that Batman will triumph this time.

Harvey Dent likes his odds.

_And everyone's looking for relief  
__United States vs. Disbelief  
__Mothers cast tears on both sides of the aisle  
__Clear your throat and face the world  
__The verdict falls like bachelors for bad luck girls  
__Only breathing with the aid of denial_

Rachel Dawes doesn't fully understand what just happened. She just watched Harvey Dent claim to be the Batman, but she knows - she _knows_ - that he is not. She knows this because they spend almost every night together, and because she knows that it is Bruce Wayne, not Harvey Dent, who dons the cowl and fights against those who would destroy Gotham through their own greed.

Rachel Dawes understands that Harvey Dent thinks that he is doing the right thing. She also knows that Bruce- Batman- whoever he is- won't let anything happen to Harvey Dent. Because letting Harvey Dent be hurt or killed would be letting the Joker win, and Batman will not let that happen.

Rachel Dawes trusts Batman to do the right thing.

_Case open, case shut,  
__But you could pay to close it like a casket  
__Baby boy can't lift his headache head  
__Isn't it tragic?_

Bruce Wayne is surprised by the epiphany he experiences as Harvey Dent claims to be Batman. In this moment, Bruce Wayne realises that Alfred was right - as usual - and that Gotham needs Batman. Batman has no choice but to endure whatever hardships the city throws at him, because he is Gotham's only hope of ever emerging from this darkness.

Bruce Wayne thinks on Harvey Dent's words. _The night is darkest before the dawn. _He also thinks on Alfred Pennyworth's words. _We burned down the forest._ Who is right? Is there always a safe option, or does one sometimes have to resort to actions that seem insane at the time, but get the necessary results?

Bruce Wayne knows what he needs to do.

_He glances at his peers, sitting seven to twelve  
__Stacked on one to six, the gallery is hushed  
__Boys in three pieces dream of grandstanding and bravado  
__The city sleeps in a cell not withstanding what we all know  
__Hang on a rope or bated breath  
__Whichever you prefer_

Harvey Dent is happy to see Rachel Dawes as he is marched towards the armoured van. He acknowledges that this could be the last time he ever sees her, but he keeps this knowledge hidden. He knew that Rachel would object to his plan, and so he didn't tell her about it until it was too late. She knew nothing until the entire city knew.

Harvey Dent assures her that Batman will save him, and he notices the wry gleam in her dark eyes. Does she know something he doesn't know? Surely she would tell him _now,_ if ever?

Harvey Dent flicks his coin to Rachel Dawes. He has no need of it.

_And everyone's looking for relief  
__A bidding war for an old flame's grief  
__The cause, the kid, the cough, the charm and the curse  
__Not a word that could make you comprehend  
__Too well dressed for the witness stand  
__The press pays for whichever headline's worse_

Batman lingers at the blast sight, the one he arrived at too late to help. He finds a coin amongst the rubble, the last reminder that Rachel Dawes spent her final moments in this place. The coin is heads on both faces, but one side has been charred by the flames. He closes his fist around the coin. He knows what he must do with it.

Batman leaps from a window. He has left the coin with the broken man that was once Harvey Dent. He hopes that the coin, the reminder that Rachel Dawes loved him unto her dying moments, will help him to heal. He knows that the same knowledge would help take away the pain in his own heart.

Batman traverses the city, silent as a cloud and deadly as the night.

_Case open, case shut,  
__But you could pay to close it like a casket  
__Baby boy can't lift his headache head  
__Isn't it tragic?_

The Joker hobbles away from the hospital, knowing that his work was done. No matter what they do now, he will win. How can Gotham survive the horror he has begun to inflict on them? He chuckles to himself, gleeful with pride, as he boards a bus. He does not care what bus, just so long as there are people on it he can scare.

The Joker claps his hands at his luck. Mike Engle, newsreader and reporter for Gotham Cable News, is sitting on the bus, his eyes wide with terror. The Joker wonders, could this be more perfect? He doubts it. A bus full of people to slaughter, and a medium through which to broadcast the chaos to the city of Gotham.

The Joker pulls out his knife.

_Fresh pressed suit and tie  
__Unimpressed birds sing and die  
__Can talk my way out of anything  
__The foreman reads the verdict  
__"In the above entitled actions we find the defendant...  
__Guilty"_

Bruce Wayne cannot escape the guilt which cripples him. He knows, deep inside himself, that he should have gone for Rachel Dawes instead of Harvey Dent. He knows that the wreck of Harvey Dent will be no help to Gotham. The city has lost its White Knight, its symbol of hope.

Bruce Wayne has lost more, though. He has lost whatever hope he had for a normal life, whatever hopes he had of love. Rachel Dawes is gone, and she was waiting for him. Despair grips him - he admits to the fear that consumes him, the fear that he will die as Batman, having lost himself to his alter ego. Already, he can feel his desire to present a front slipping away. His desire to be human. Then Alfred enters the room. He barely acknowledges the tear-choked words, the insistance that Rachel was waiting.

Bruce Wayne looks out at the rising sun and realises what needs to be done.

_Case open, case shut,  
__But you could pay to close it like a casket  
__Baby boy can't lift his headache head  
__Isn't it tragic?_

Batman is in pain. Or is it Bruce Wayne? The burning agony is blurring the lines, fuelling a strange desire to cry out for help. But no, he cannot - he is hunted by the Gotham Police, he has taken the blame for the atrocities committed by Harvey Dent. By Two-Face. He forces himself to stay on the bike, focusing on getting back to Alfred, to the batbunker and the sweet abandon of heavy-duty painkillers.

Batman bites back a cry of pain as he breaks. His ribs and shoulder are screaming, on fire. The Joker broke every bone in his chest - at least, that's how it feels - and his shoulder shattered when Two-Face shot him. He knows - is forced to admit - that even Alfred and his magic hands will not be enough this time. Once the swelling goes down, Alfred will make a judgement on his injuries and make a judgement as to what lie will best hide the truth of how they were obtained.

Bruce Wayne pulls off his cowl and lets Alfred help him out of his armour. It will be a long time before he heals from this, and even then, the Joker will have left him with scars.

_Case open, case shut,  
__But you could pay to close it like a casket  
__Baby boy can't lift his headache head  
__Isn't it tragic?_

* * *

**AN: **This is my first ever song fic, so I apologise if it's crap :)

So, I just felt that this song sums up _The Dark Knight _from the press conference onwards. I have no guide on any of this. This is purely my bored mind throwing up ideas as to what was running through the various characters heads at these moments.

Also, on the subject of Batman's injuries, I'm going purely on guesswork - although I imagine being kicked repeatedly in the chest by someone wearing steel toe-cap boots and then getting shot in the shoulder, even while wearing Kevlar, is _excrutiatingly_ painful, and would result in some heavy-duty injuries.

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed. Reviews are welcome :)

Niamh :)


End file.
